I have a small batch of West Wind scouts (which were sort of thrown into a lot of stuff I purchased), a Russian soldier waving a flag and a light AT gun and crew still to do and that’s about for foot… I also have a BT-7… oh, and that 76mm field piece…. and THEN I’m done with the Russians… well… for now… (I would like to pick up a few more tanks… at some point!)

Friday, May 28, 2010

I picked up some odd WW2 British in an ebay lot during the Spring Sree which I thought I'd use as Canadians for operations in North West Europe.

I have no idea who the manufacturer is (any guesses...?) and I'm not sure Canucks used that large pack... but I'm not fussy. One thing I've noticed, however, is that just about all pictures I've seen of Canadians, from D-Day and beyond, were all wearing camouflage netting on their helmets...

So I tried to add some with green stuff... this is a bit labourious, but I think they'll look better in the end. It took some trial and error and picking green stuff off and starting over again until I found a pokey thing of the right guage to get the right look of hte netting. I need to add a bit more scrim to these lads, but overall I'm happy with them so far. Motivation to get working on these isn't REALLY high as I'm currently engaged in an East Front Campaign and though I plan to do a Canadian Campaign afterwards... it seems like a long way off...

A variety of odd items… Crap weather has once again forced my photography indoors.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

These three are from Artizan Designs; a Cossack and partisan type which I think were both from the Thrilling Tales line (though there seems to be a separate group of partisans in the WW2 line-up now?) and an agent from the kiss-kiss, bang-bang line.

Finally this PIAT team is from Crusader Miniatures. I’ve painted them as Canucks from the 3rd Infantry division that landed at Juno beach on D-Day (the grey patch) I should probably have painted a unit shoulder title as well… ah well…

I think the last of the spring spree arrived yesterday putting my 28mm purchases this year at 814 foot, 45 mounted, 8 guns, 30 vehicles and big beasties… I had originally intended to keep track of “Acquired” figures – including stuff given to me or acquired through trade… but that would just make me sad… and I’d have to keep track of stuff traded away and then should I keep track of stuff traded that was painted vs. non-painted… bah… too much to think about. Anyway that’s it for purchases this year (no… really…) I have an absurd amount of stuff to paint and I better get at it (think of all the extra time I’ll have to paint now that I’m not checking ebay daily…!?)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Russians…then more Russians or Germans… then maybe some Bobbies, Canucks, Japs, Diggers and more odds and ends… I should really get a bit more organized and plan some other stuff into the schedule – to finish up some other forces for HOTT and DBA, etc.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

This is a Soviet BA-64 Armoured car from Bolt Action Miniatures. Very nice kit. The commander was separate – it was actually a T-34 commander that I carved off the turret hatch (which was integral to the figure) that he was leaning on.

Another view.

I’d totally like to pick up another one at some point and will definitely look at some of their other resin kits!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Russians… more Russians… or Germans… (then maybe some Bobbies, Canucks, Japs, Diggers and other odds and ends…)

I struggled to decide whether to put them all on one big base together or base the crew individually and leave the gun be… This way I can remove casualties individually and even have others (even Russians) crew the gun… On the other hand it’s a pretty flimsy little gun and being stuck to a base would have offered it considerable protection when jostled around in the drawers or if ever I transported it somewhere.

German army cameraman from Bolt Action Miniatures. I’m a sucker for these odd and unusual figures… sometimes I think “honestly, when am I ever going to use this…” but then we DO use Savage Worlds: Showdown rules (with Fortune and Calamity – and freak events) and one of the freak events in the Modern Ops version involves a camera crew that suddenly shows up (I think it always moves towards the most dangerous part of the table – unless held back by units on the table – and it’s loss is big negative victory points for the side it’s ostensibly on…). So, you never know…

These are some Feldpolizei ready to set up a road block somewhere… They are from Artizan Designs

A spare Kraut I happened to finish up around the same time – Infantryman in a greatcoat. Actually with that camo cover he’d be an SS trooper in a great coat… The figure is from West Wind Productions.

Looks like the next thing to roll off the workbench will be a german AT gun and crew – the gun is actually done, I’ll probably finish the crew tonight. (what you thought I’d give the Russians Tanks and not give them something to defend themselves with…?)

I’m really liking AGNM models. Great detail – supreme casting (no bubbles..) – great service…. I’m going to get a platoon of these sometime… and some T-34s… and some German stuff… and… and…

oh dear…

The paint job on this one didn’t turn out awesome part of the reason for that is there ended up being a LOT of primer on it which dulled some of the great detail. I’ve been using acrylic gesso to prime and I thought I had an old can of spray primer kicking around… but didn’t… I had a bad feeling about using gesso on the resin. It totally didn’t stick – just beaded in blobs in the corners!? I ended up adding liquid hand soap to the gesso (seriously – it’s a surfactant right?) and that worked a bit better, though I had to do a couple coats and it ended up going on rather thick. I think on the next one I’ll try scrubbing the model down with soap FIRST and see if that helps!?

I’m not sure who manufactured the crewman – I got it in an odd lot of various WW2 crew/seated figures off ebay…

I also recently picked up three Pzkw 38T – these are die-cast “1:48 scale” models… This one I’ve simply based and added a bit more weathering. The other two have a camo paint job and I’m going to repaint them (at some point). Once those are repainted I’ll probably repaint this one to match them.

As I have three of them that’s good enough for a “platoon” (for me, at least) and I have no need to get anymore – I think they would only look odd next to another Pzkw 38 in another scale.

Here’s what it looks like next to the T-26

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Germans… Russians…

If you’re wondering where all the battle reports are for all these WW2 toys I’ve been cranking out I have a separate blog for Savage Worlds stuff (the rules I use for 28mm WW2 skirmish games and pretty much ALL other skirmish games too):

Click on the “East Front” label to see the latest (or click on THIS LINK)

Next weekend I’m going to be having a bigger WW2 game (Russian Company sized counterattack on a hastily prepared German position) on the afternoon of the 29th (May 2010) The report will probably be up at the playhouse later that evening…

This Soviet ATR team is from a Battle Honors Specialist weapons pack. There was this team, and a guy marching with an ATR over his shoulder and a couple guys with flame-throwers (No, Patrick, you can’t have one!), a Sniper… and... I can’t remember what else…? meh.

I thought I might throw some German tanks at the players in an upcoming game, so….

(heh… heh… heh…)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Russians… More Germans… possibly some tanks (for BOTH!)

Hopefully get some more done tomorrow evening. I am finally trying to get to sleep earlier so I can get up for early morning rides again… So many events going on as activities wrap up. I have three dance recitals, a concert (and associated rehearsals), an AGM, two board meetings in the next two weeks – in addition to all the usual nonsense…!?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I traded away a bunch of plastic GW stuff to Nedoreth and the Teenage Visigoth and a pile of goodies arrived from the latter the other day – including some WW2 marines and Japanese and Diggers and Great War Tropical British… it was like Xmas… only waaaaaaaaay better! So of course I painted up the lot that would be the least use to me right now… THE MARINES!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

These Jar-heads hail from Battle Honors. (I think… loose figures received in a trade…)

They’ll certainly see some action against my Japanese Infantry at some point. I got some more Japanese infantry in this lot… unfortunately the look like children next to the ones I already have… well… maybe more like scrawny teenagers… whatever… I ain’t fussy!

This SS flame-thrower guy is definitely from Battle Honors. They were in a Battle Honors package! He’ll be seeing some action on the East Front pretty soon. One of the players in my East Front Campaign was asking if he could have a flame-thrower. I said “no”… but it got me thinking… “Hmmmmmmm… Flame-throwers…”

Be careful what you wish for, because it might just show up in your game… on the OTHER side!! (MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha… ha… ha… ha..!).

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

...it POURS!! A number of things arrived today from the latest (and LAST!) spending spree of the year!

First were some AWESOME looking AFVs (T-26, BT-7, Stug C/D) and a Pak36 and crew from Army Group North Miniatures>. They are exceptionally well made resin models and I definitely will be ordering more at some point. I totally can't wait to put these ones together and paint them! I'll have to excercise a little patience though as I ordered some crew from Warlord Games/Bolt Action Miniatures...

Also arriving the in the mail were a handful of more WW2 Russian riflemen from The Assault Group. This will beef up the sections of my (still very understrength) Rifle Company.

On top of that a copy of Risk: Lord of the Rings (Trilogy Edition) arrived - that I traded another game for with some friendly fellow on Board Game Geek which my son is VERY excited about (though I told him we have to finish reading the series before we play it - we left off half way through Two Towers when we got distracted by Mouse Guard!)

...oh and a book of trio arrangements for violin, Quartered Safe Out Here (by George MacDonald Fraser), an Osprey Special Edition (Infantry Tactics of WW2), the Mouse Guard RPG (it's for the boy - one of the top rated RPGs on Geekdo) and two Apocalyptica CDs all arrived from Amazon... it was like freakin' Xmas!!

Unfortunately I get to look at/prep/prime/paint NONE of it this evening as I have a newsletter to prepare...

Despite promising myself I’d go to bed earlier I was feeling like I wanted to just finish up a few things…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

This is a Russian HMG team I picked up off ebay a week or so ago. They are from First Corps. They are a tad on the hefty side – but I’m not the fussy sort. When I’ve got a entire company of Russians on the table who’s going to notice if one or two look a little “well fed”.

After staring at Paul’s Panzer-Grenadiers some more… and then staring at more examples online… I decided to have another go at some early war SS camouflage.

This is another one of those mystery figures I picked up off of ebay. They were listed as “West Wind?”, but they don’t look all that West Wind-ish to me… I was going to guess Battle Honors – but looking through their catalogue they don’t quite match… (last time I guess Battle Honours I was dead wrong too…) Any guesses out there from cyberland…?

Monday, May 10, 2010

Everything I seemed to be working on over the weekend had some camouflage. I have some SS troops and some fallschirmjägers I’m working on and can’t quite nail down a pattern to use for either.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Here’s the Fallschirmjägers. They’re all from Bolt Action Miniatures. Because I keep “experimenting” with different schemes they’re doubtless going to end up looking a ragtag lot… I’m still not entirely happy with the smock patterns… but… whatever…

A couple SS troops I picked up off Ebay. They were listed as “West Wind?” but I’m not sure…

On the left is the pea-dot pattern I’ve done lots on 20mm figures and have refined a bit and am rather happy with it… The fellow on the right is in, I think, an earlier pattern. I was feeling inspired by the awesome job Beccas did on his Panzer-Grenadiers over at Wargamer Blue - while I don’t think I quite got it quite like Beccas did, I’m still fairly pleased with the results.

Not sure if I should do a mishmash of different schemes for these guys or just settle on one… I’ll probably just settle on one… and it’ll probably be the pea-dot scheme… we’ll see.

An odd German infantryman in a smock from Artizan Designs. I was shooting for the splinter pattern and he turned out so-so… I don’t know.. splinters aren’t angular enough…?

A russian sniper from First Corps (another odd item picked up off ebay…). Damn… it looks like I forgot to paint the rifle sling!?

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Sticking with the World War two theme but veering wildly over to the Pacific Theatre….

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Japanese Infantry. Handy for battling against Canadians in Hong Kong. Or I suppose I could bust out the Warlord Chinese (well… the few that haven’t been re-based for DBA…). Heck, I could even have them fighting against the Russians!? Of course for any Pulp Adventure games set in the South Pacific these guys could always pop up as the evil menace (or erstwhile-enemies-cum-reluctant-allies against some GREATER EVIL?)!

I THINK these are from Battle Honors… I think … I got them off ebay… the listing didn’t say… can’t find any pics on Battle Honors web site…

As I mentioned on the previous post, I really like these. Oh, sure, like pretty much EVERY 28mm figure out there they’re a bit on the chunky side. But they’re pretty simple and easy to paint and there wasn’t any guessing as to what things were supposed to be and there’s a bunch of kneeling guys. I love kneeling figures – especially in more modern conflicts (1900+). It drives me cRaZy when figure lines have prone machinegunners and everyone else is (or 90% of them are) standing!?

It was nice getting these out of the way - even though there is no immediate need for them - because they are the only WW2 Japanese I have and I can honestly say "I am FINISHED ALL of my 28mm WW2 Japanese..." There is something satisfying in that... However small the number of them may be...

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Hard to tell… nothing rapidly approaching completion. I did get a Russian HMG team in the mail yesterday and I may paint that up in a hurry just to “keep on top” of the Russians…. (of course I still have that GAZ light truck and the 76mm gun to paint as well…). I should really get to work on some Germans – as they will be the next most useful thing in the current WW2 campaigning. That or some more pulp adventure stuff for the Realms of Cthulhu campaign on Savage Saturday Night…

Monday, May 3, 2010

These are all from Bolt Action Miniatures/Warlord Games. I was kind of toying around with the camo, but not totally satisfied with any of these… Well the two riflemen on the outside aren't so bad. I think I need to make the brown and green "splinters" a bit smaller and the background khaki a bit darker (or use the light greenish colour I used on the fellow on the left of the picture...).

Another British Infantryman from Artizan Designs that I’ve painted as a Canadian armoured officer from the 4th Armoured Division. I mixed up some lighter battledress green which I’m much happier with – I even went back and Highlighter the ones I finished the other day.

This is a Japanese infantryman. I THINK it’s from Battle Honors - I won them on ebay… so I’m not entirely sure. They’re really nice figures. Well… I think so… I like that there are a number of kneeling figures. I dislike the inclusion of prone machine-gunners when there’s at least a few kneeling figures in a section. It drives me cRaZy when manufacturers make prone machinegunners but ALL the other figures are standing!?

I’ve picked up a couple more packs of Battle Honors 28mm WW2 stuff in the last week or so, as well as a couple lots that I suspect are Battle Honors – Russians, Germans, British, etc. I’m quite excited to see how they look.

There should be some other Japanese in the mail from a trade… and I’ve started eyeing up some of the Japanese from The Assault Group!?

How on earth did I get sucked into the PTO!? GAH!?

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More Japanese seem to be the next things likely to be finished up… unless something else arrives in the mail and utterly distracts me!? OR someone else paints up something pretty and posts it on their blog and utterly distracts me (like… say… neldoreth and his pretty Qin Dynasty Chinese!? That's almost enough to get me painting my L5R stuff again... almost...)

Sunday, May 2, 2010

These are a couple of Artizan Designs British I thought I’d paint up as Canadians. Though I have just started an East Front Campaign over at Savage Timmy’s Playhouse, I am already plotting and planning for a Canadian WW2 Skirmish Campaign. I think the battle dress green might be a tad dark on these chaps...

A couple others that may be handy for an Canadian campaign (or any WW2 campaign really…); a French civilian and an SS trooper, both from West Wind Productions… I think… The civilian definitely is, the SS trooper I got in a trade, but he looks a lot like a West Wind figure. A bit on the smallish size, but then that will be perfect for a teenager from the 12th SS (Hitlerjugend) that the Canadians faced in Normandy.

As mentioned I have just started a Savage Worlds East Front Campaign skirmish campaign. I’m posting the battle reports over at Savage Timmy’s Playhouse - another blog of mine that originally was supposed to be for reports of Role-playing games I ran on Savage Saturday. Originally I was going to report the skirmish campaign games here – it being more of a straight up war game and all… as I have with previous savage Worlds tabletop games… But in the end I decided to post all my Savage Worlds games there… so to see what’s going on in that campaign you’ll have to roll over to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse.

While I’m plugging my other blogs… if you haven’t found them (by checking out the blogger profile) I also have a blog about cycling (Tim’s Bike Blog) and I’ve just started yet another to chronicle some of the art I’ve been working on lately and in the past; Tim’s Art Blog…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Fallshirmjägers... four of them just needing their bases finished. I've been fooling around trying to get their camo right... and not entirely impressed with the results so far...